Cape Verdeans

Cape Verdeans
Total population
491.875 (2010 Census)[1]
Total population of Cape Verde
Regions with significant populations
 Portugal 68,145[2]
 United States 33,119 (Cape Verdeans born)[3]
Languages
Portuguese
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholicism
Judaism, Protestantism, Irreligion

Cape Verdeans (Portuguese: cabo-verdiano), also called Cabo Verdeans, are the citizens of Cape Verde. Cape Verde is a multiethnic society, which means that it is home to people of many different ethnic backgrounds. Cape Verdeans do not consider their nationality as an ethnicity but as a citizenship with various ethnicities. Nearly all Cape Verdeans or their ancestors immigrated within the past five centuries.

Racial groups

The Cape Verde archipelago was uninhabited when the Portuguese discovered it in 1456. African slaves were brought to the islands to work on Portuguese plantations. As a result, Cape Verdeans are mulattoes (mestiços in Portuguese), who have mixed African and European origins. European ancestors also include Spanish and Italian seamen who were granted land by the Portuguese Empire, followed by Portuguese settlers, exiles, and Portuguese Jews who were victims of the Inquisition. Many foreigners from other parts of the world settled in Cape Verde as their permanent country. Most of them were Dutch, French, British (English), Arab and Jewish (from Lebanon and Morocco), Chinese (especially from Macau).

A genetic study revealed that the ancestry of the population in Cape Verde is predominantly European in the male line and West African in the female line; counted together the percentage is 56% African and 44% European.[4]

Diaspora

Main article: Cape Verdean diaspora

Today, more Cape Verdeans live abroad than in Cape Verde itself, with significant emigrant[5] Cape Verdean communities in the United States (500,000 Cape Verdeans descent, with a major concentration on the New England coast from Providence, Rhode Island, to New Bedford, Massachusetts). In 2008, Portugal’s National Statistics Institute estimated that there were 68,145 Cape Verdeans who legally resided in Portugal. This made up "15.7% of all foreign nationals living legally in the country."[6] There are other significant Cape Verde populations in Angola (45,000), São Tomé and Príncipe (25,000), Senegal (25,000), the Netherlands (20,000, of which 15,000 are concentrated in Rotterdam), France (25,000), Spain (12,500), Italy (10,000) Luxembourg (7,000) and Scandinavia (7,000). There is a Cape Verdean community in Argentina numbering 8,000. A large number of Cape Verdeans and people of Cape Verdean descent who emigrated before 1975 are not included in these statistics, because Cape Verdeans had Portuguese passports before 1975.

Languages

Cape Verde's official language is Portuguese. It is the language of instruction and government. Cape Verdean Creole is used colloquially and is the mother tongue of virtually all Cape Verdeans. Cape Verdean Creole or Kriolu is a dialect continuum of a Portuguese-based creole. There is a substantial body of literature in Creole, especially in the Santiago Creole and the São Vicente Creole. Creole has been gaining prestige since the nation's independence from Portugal.

Religion

Religion in Cape Verde (2010)[7]

  Catholic Church (78.7%)
  Other Christian (10.4%)
  Other or Non Religious (10.9%)
A church in Santiago, Cape Verde.

More than 93% of the population of Cape Verde is nominally Roman Catholic, according to an informal poll taken by local churches.[8] About 5% of the population is Protestant.[9] The largest Protestant denomination is the Church of the Nazarene.[8]

Other groups include the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), the Assemblies of God, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, the New Apostolic Church and various other Pentecostal and evangelical groups.[8] There are small Bahá'í communities and a small Muslim community.[8] The number of atheists is estimated at less than 1 percent of the population.[8]

Culture

Main article: Culture of Cape Verde

The culture of Cape Verde reflects its mixed African and Portuguese roots. It is well known for its diverse forms of music such as Morna, and a wide variety of dances: the soft dance Morna, and its modernized version, the Funaná - a sensual mixed African and Portuguese dance, the extreme sensuality of coladeira, and the Batuque dance. These are reflective of the diverse origins of Cape Verde's residents. The term "Criolo" is used to refer to residents as well as the culture of Cape Verde.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cabo Verdean people.

References

  1. ↑ Estado da população cabo-verdiana
  2. ↑ A Semana. "Cape Verdeans make up 15.7% of all foreigners in Portugal." Retrieved January 20, 2008.
  3. ↑ "PLACE OF BIRTH FOR THE FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES, Universe: Foreign-born population excluding population born at sea, 2007-2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  4. ↑ "Actualidade". Asemana.sapo.cv. Retrieved 2013-01-31.
  5. ↑ Jorgen Carling, 2004, p.113-132
  6. ↑ A Semana. "Cape Verdeans make up 15.7% of all foreigners in Portugal." Retrieved January 20, 2008.
  7. ↑ (CABO VERDE). Retrieved 06-10-2012.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 International Religious Freedom Report 2007: Cape Verde. United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (September 14, 2007). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  9. ↑ Susanne Lipps: Kapverdische Inseln, p.47. Ostfilern 2009.